A ranch wife's quest for physical, financial, and spiritual fitness

Tag Archives: FLYLady

I have mentioned before how much I adore the FLYLady. (You can read about that here.) As part of the evening routine I developed through the FLYLady’s program, I always start the dishwasher right before I turn out the lights to go to bed. I love the thought of any chore being done while I’m sleeping! Thank heavens for modern technology!

But you know what I do not love? I do not love to wake up in the morning and open the dishwasher only to find dishes that are not sparkling clean despite a being run through a full cycle during the night. This has been happening a lot lately. We have very hard water and I don’t own a top of the line dishwasher but I still expect it to do its job. I went through countless different types of detergent, added rinse aid of every variety, and even tried doing a more thorough job of pre-rinsing but the spots and leftover residue would not go away. But never fear! I have discovered the solution to the grubby dishwasher dilemma!

Quick Tip #4: Run a dishwasher cycle with regular vinegar in place of dishwasher detergent to remove spots and residue buildup.

Simply fill your detergent dispenser with plain old white vinegar and run the cycle as usual. Voila! Sparkling clean dishes and a nice tidy dishwasher that will run spot free for many cycles depending on the hardness of your water. I usually use the vinegar trick about once a week.

I’ve used this method with everything from glassware only to very soiled dinner plates with the same squeaky clean results so it is a good tip to keep in mind if you ever run out of regular dishwasher detergent.